Claude Makelele
Basic Settings: Age - 32
Dominant foot - Right
Injury - A
Style of dribble - 2
Free kick type - 1
Penalty - 1
Goal celebration 1 - no
2 - no
Face: Skin colour 4
Head height -2
Head width -1
Type 20
Colour 1 - 2
2 - Black 2
Hairstyle: Type - Special 23
Colour - 7
Facial hair: Type - 53
Colour - 8
Boots: Nike AZT III - Comet Red/White
Physique: Height 170cm
Weight 70kg
Neck length +2
Neck width 0
Shoulder height +1
Shoulder width -3
Chest measurement 0
Waist circumference -1
Arm circumference -2
Leg circumference -1
Calf circumference -1
Leg length +1
Accesories: Always untucked shirt
Tucked in sleeves
Attack - 60
Defence -
80
Balance -
80
Stamina -
93
Top speed -
82
Acceleration -
82
Response -
91
Agility -
80
Dribble accuracy - 76
Dribble speed - 79
Short pass accuracy -
85
Short pass speed -
85
Long pass accuracy - 79
Long pass speed -
82
Shot accuracy - 62
Shot power - 72
Shot technique - 60
Free kick accuracy - 58
Curling - 59
Header - 75
Jump -
90
Technique -
81
Aggression - 57
Mentality -
90
Goal keeping skills - 50
Team work ability -
95
Consistency -
8
Condition -
7
Weak foot accuracy - 4
Weak foot frequency - 4
*Centre, Marking, Sliding Tackle, Covering
Probably the best defensive midfielder in the world along with M. Diarra, Claude Makelele is in my opinion one of the three most important figures in the Chelsea line-up, and pivotal to their success. When he doesnt play, Chelsea look a bit more fragile in midfield, even when he is replaced with a great box-box midfielder like Michael Essien. That says just how good Claude is at his job.
First thing to mention about Claude Makelele is that he has excellent stamina, and when you look at how old he is its quite frankly unbelievable. Undoubtley one of the most disciplined footballers when it comes to looking after his body, Claude definitely not look in his thirties when he plays. So two very important values for Claude are going to be his stamina and mentality ones. 93 and 90 respectively are two very high ratings which reflect Claude perfectly.
In keeping his body in excellent condition Claude has also maintained his great athletic qualities, especially his leap. Claude has an excellent jumping capabilty which allows him to play in amongst the tall midfielders you often find now-a-days. In the Liverpool matches this season Claude was beating Peter Crouch in the air, and when you consider Peter is over 20cm taller, that is some feat! So a very high value of 90 for jump enables Claude to emulate the athletic leap he has in real life, ingame. A solid 75 heading stat means Claude is quite comfortable passing the ball with his head. Another great attribute he has managed to maintain to a high extent is his pace. He is SLIGHTLY slower than what he once was, particularly on the ball, but this by no means means he is slow. Top speed and acceleration values of 82 show the pace he has, and a 79 in dribble speed demonstrates how he is that little bit slower.
Now lets analyse the features which make him such a great defensive midfielder, which is such a difficult position to play effectively. When Claude plays he really does show up players like Alan Smith and Michael Carrick, who are both good players but no where near as good as Claude. So first up, his response value. Playing in the holding role, means you need to be very aware as you have to consider the space all around you, and also the players positioning. You have to able to make quick decisions and be very adept at noticing small changes in the game. Claude is fantastic at this and this ests him apart from other defensive midfielders. A response of 91 ingame shows that he thinks extremely quickly and very, very rarely gets caught on the ball. It also helps to demonstrate how well he responds to his OWN team mates positioning, and combined with the covering star, enables him to plug gaps quickly. His passing is also very good. Both 85 for short pass accuracy and speed show that he is great at accurately distributing the ball around him. I havent given him the passing star for one simple reason. This star only affects passing around the penalty area. If one player has the passing star and one does not, then when they are passing in their own half it has no effect. Claude very rarely ventures that far up the pitch, so it would be unrealistic to give him the passing star. The playmaking star effects passing all over the pitch, so why not give himn that? Because it encourages players to look for that cutting through ball, and increases their profficiency at it. That certainly isnt what we want. The answer is the team work stat which is particularly important for Claude. He has a very high rating of 95, so this has a direct influence on the qaulity of passes and makes his passing moves more fluid. The final point to make is his consisitency and aggression values. Claude is consistency personified, and it is important in the defensive midfield position as mistakes can be crucial. This is a feature players like Carrick still need to develop in their game, and one which gives Claude an advantage. The final key part is his aggression stat. The most disciplined defensive midfielder, he needs a low aggression stat, to encourage him to sit back and as the name of the position implies 'hold'. 57 means that Claude always has the urge to sit back and cover up the holes, which in real life is one of his best qualities.
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